Songs of War Ruleset
Songs of War Region List Songs of War “Lancer-Risk” Updated July 30, 2018 Story Ellin Song has declared war against Gildor and Oden. Arn has joined her side in the fight, and now, all of Lancerus is enveloped in War. Goal and Schedule The purpose of Songs of War is to provide a means for non-Loremasters to greatly shape the landscape of Lancerus, as well as providing an exciting, ever-shifting story for the adventurers of the community. Banan (Gildor) Mars (Larkenvale) 5/8 – 7/6 Sapientia (Gildor) Shamus (Larkenvale) 7/10 – 8/28 Lachlan (Gildor) Azzurra (Larkenvale) 8/31 – 10/26 Evaerus (Gildor) Tadhg (Larkenvale) 10/30 – Season End (November Battles doubled) Field Generals Every two months a new field general will be chosen for the Gildorian Army and for the Larken Army. Oden and Arn are non-playable and, as such, will be handled exclusively by the Loremasters. The field general of Gildor will play the role of Tigahn Dailar, the Duke of Highkeep and General of Gildor’s Armies. Tigahn's advisor is William Lupey. The field general of Larkenvale will play the role of Aggerlis Ceol, a former member of the Patrician’s Collective and right-hand to Ellin Song. Aggerlis's advisor is Alister Goldshaw. The Map Field Generals will be able to see all their Regions as well as the Regions of their Ally. Enemy Regions, even those on the border, will not be visible unless the Scout action is played. Even then, it is extremely difficult to always know what the enemy is doing. Always be prepared for attack from any direction. How to Play The game will begin at Season Opener. The Loremasters will facilitate play for two weeks, giving people time to learn how the game operates. After that, two Field Generals will be chosen to carry on the game. They will play for two months before another two Field Generals are chosen. The game ends when either the Season ends or a human Capital is captured by the other team and remains captured for 2 weeks. The game is played in Rounds. Each round is two weeks long. There are four Phases during a Round, each falling on a specific day: Tuesday: Action Phase Friday: Action Phase Tuesday: Action Phase Friday: Combat Combat always and only occurs on the last Friday of the Round. The other three days are up to the Field General to determine their course of action. Will they tax their people for the war machine? Will they move their armies? Will they spy on the enemy? The choice is yours. Actions taken will never be known by the opposing Field General. You will have to rely on Spies to guess their motives and plans of attack. Actions Tax When you take the Tax action, you generate and collect revenue from all your holdings connected to your capital. Anything not connected to your capital is worth nothing. Allied territory does not break connection. Contested regions break connections. Connections can be maintained through water only if Military harbors connect both regions. Regions provide various levels of income depending on what is on them. Farmland (spaces that have no cities) generate 200 sovereigns. Cities generate 500 sovereigns. Capitals generate 1,500 sovereigns. Castles add +300 sovereigns to the space they are built on. Capitals cannot have a Castle built on them, as they already receive the benefits of a Castle. Dol-Baror generates 800 sovereigns, this space can have a castle added to it. Lindala generates 2,000 sovereigns. This space is already considered to have a castle on it. Some spaces, such as Blackmist Castle, cannot be taken and do not generate any revenue. Spend During the Spend action you use your sovereigns to purchase new tools to aid in the war. You may spend as much or as little as you like and can buy as many different combinations of structures, units or tactics as you like. Any land units bought are immediately placed in any Capital or Castle you own in any combination of your choosing. Fleets are placed in your Capital or Military Harbor, if you own one. Battalion – 500 A Battalion is your standard unit of combat. You need at least one battalion to attack and defend regions. A region can hold up to 25 battalions and 3 Siege Weapon Battalions. Mercenaries – Varies Mercenaries will occasionally offer their services for hire in the war. These mercenaries band together under clan names and, once hired, cannot be split apart. Both factions will see when a mercenary company is offering their services at the same time barring few exceptions. Mercenaries will spawn in specific regions and operate INDEPENDANTLY from your own forces; they will fight for you, but you cannot control their movement. Mercenaries will continue to fight for you until their contract expires (or death). Contracts may be as short as a few weeks or as long as several months. This will be reflected in their price. Mercenaries have a minimum fee, but they will always fight for the highest bidder. As such, mercenaries will announce their availability prior to appearing on the board. During this time, each faction can place bids on who will own the mercenaries. Once the "board date" has been reached, whichever faction has the highest bid will be the owners of the contract. Higher bids may also change the Reputation of the company once bought. You do NOT need to be in the Spend phase to offer money. Once bought, the funds will immediately come out of our coffers to hire them... even if we don't have enough. Don't go into the negative! Mercenary companies have Reputations. These represent how faithful they are to you, how well they will do their jobs, and how likely they are to flee combat or even change sides. Reputations range from Unwavering to Nefarious and everything in between. Keep this in mind when purchasing a company. Some mercenary companies will only fight for a specific nation, though they will still need to be paid first. Beating their asking price may increase their Reputation. You can always pay certain companies bonuses to keep their favor, though ruthless groups may run off with the money. If a mercenary company is listed in a region that is opposed to the purchasing faction, the mercenaries will immediately attack the region they spawn in. Be warned; if they fail and have nowhere to run to, your mercenaries will be very short lived. However, should they succeed, they can cripple an enemy faction from behind front lines if they are unprepared. Fleet – 1,500 Fleets are naval units. They are used for battles at sea as well as transporting Battalions across the water. Each Fleet can hold 6 Battalions, however, these Battalions do not increase the combat effectiveness of the Fleets. 6 Fleets holding no extra battalions are stronger than 5 Fleets holding 6 Battalions each. In the water, each Fleet is considered to have a strength of 3 for Field Combat purposes (e.g. Gildorian naval units, numbering 4 Fleets, cruise into the Ember Sea. They are intercepted by Larken forces, number 5 Fleets. This equates to 12 strength for Gildor against 15 for Larkenvale. According to the rules for Team Size, Larkenvale gets one extra fighter during combat.) When Fleets are eliminated, round down. Fleets move 1 space per either Expand or Reinforce action. A naval space is denoted by the compass rose in the water. Fleets can only attack coasts with Expand actions and only load Battalions during Reinforce actions. Tactic – 2,000 Tactics are Field Combat Bonuses. Tactics are purchased before-hand by the Field General and used during actual Friday battles. The Field General chooses which of the following Tactics they would like to buy. The Field General can hold up to 5 Tactics at a time but can only use 1 per battle. Archer Tower Team is given a stationary tower to harbor one soldier, preferably an archer. Allies can freely enter and exit tower, though only one can be inside at a time. To enter or exit a person must touch the barrier with their foot, count to 5, then enter and/or exit. Allies inside are immune to melee attack, though they can still be hit with projectiles. Enemies can destroy the tower by surrounding it on all four sides with three fighters and declaring “Tower Destroyed.” A Herald confirms this. Enemies cannot enter the tower, only destroy it. Towers do not last for more than the current battle. Win or lose, the tower does not persist to further battles. Champion Field General selects a Champion from their team. The Champion is given one of several buffs that persist throughout the battle according to the Field Generals wishes: - Stoneskin 1 - Yellow Immunity - Unbreakable Shield - Poison Damage Defector At the start of the battle, the Field General forces the enemy team to forfeit one of their fighters to them. The enemy team chooses two fighters, the ally team than chooses one of the two to add to their ranks. Outpost The Allied team is allowed to either move their respawn closer to the line of conflict or change a time limit (buff for them or nerf for enemy) by 25%. Saboteurs This anti-tactic is a gamble. If played at the same time as the enemy plays a tactic, their tactic is destroyed and the ally team is refunded 1,000 sovereigns. If they do not play a tactic, Saboteurs does nothing and is wasted. If both teams play a saboteur, both are wasted. Saboteurs cannot be played as an Emergency Tactic. Emergency Tactic – 5,000 These are the same as regular Tactics in every way, however, you do not need to pre-purchase them before battle. These can be played at any time during the start of combat, middle of combat, or even towards the end for one final push. You can only use one emergency tactic per battle, and you cannot use one if you used a regular tactic. If the Field General calls for an Emergency Tactic, Heralds will call a Kneel on the game while the Emergency Tactic is put into effect. Trenches – 2,000 Trenches are constructed on the border of any two regions. Enemies crossing from that region into the trenched region suffer the Fortifications effect. Trenches take one week to construct. The Fortifications effect is thus: On ally victory, suffer losses on a 5 or 6 instead of a 4, 5 or 6 On enemy victory, they suffer losses on a 3,4,5 or 6 instead of just a 4, 5 or 6 (see Battle Aftermath section for more info). This effect can stack with a Castle. Trenches can be built multiple times in a region across several different borders. Trenches do not get destroyed if the owners retain control of a region after the battle. When a region is conquered, all Trenches in that region are destroyed. Siege Weapon Battalion – 2,500 Siege Weapon Battalions are necessary to assault Castle regions and Capitals. If your army does not have at least one Siege Weapon Battalion, regardless of size, it cannot attack a Castle or Capital region. Siege Weapon Battalions count as 3 regular battalions in field battles, 4 if attacking a castle or city. You can have any number of Siege Weapon Battalions on any space, though you will only get a Field Combat bonus of up to 3. Siege Weapon Battalions become Turrets if defending a Castle (see Castle for more information) Field Combat Bonus: For every Siege Weapon Battalion present in a battle (up to 3), that team is allowed a Trebuchet. This is represented by an extra soldier standing inside a designated space. This soldier should be taken from the fighters they were already promised. These designated spaces (no more than 5x5 space) are placed between the line of conflict and the allied respawn. While inside, the permanent archer fires at the enemy as usual. If given a javelin, the archer can throw it as black damage. They cannot use the javelin in melee. Trebuchets can die in one of three ways: 1. Trebuchets will have a shield placed in front. If the shield is hit by a Red weapon twice (death on hit), the trebuchet is destroyed. 2. If the weapon is surrounded by three fighters and they yell “Trebuchet destroyed”, the Siege Weapon is destroyed. 3. Trebuchets are also destroyed if hit with Black Damage from another Trebuchet (shield or person). Trebuchet arrows and Javelins can fire over any wall and ignore any obstacle within reason. Herald may call for arced shots, on your honor. When a Trebuchet is destroyed, the fighter manning it becomes a regular soldier again after they respawn. Sieging a Castle When attacking a Castle, your minimum one Siege Battalion takes the form of a Battering Ram. Any extras are turned into Trebuchets. Battering Rams are specially designated Javelins. They can only be used in melee and cannot be thrown by either team. When thrust double-green against a Gate, the gate takes one damage and the Battering Ram must respawn. Trebuchets can also hit the gate with a thrown, black damage Javelin for damage, but this must be a different Javelin. Spy – 3,000 Spies are specialty units that move across the map and relay news of the enemy to the Field General. Spies move during the Reinforcement or Expand actions, just like normal Battalions. Unlike normal soldiers, however, Spies treat movement during the Expand and Reinforce actions the same way: they can move through friendly OR enemy territory with either action. Spies move 3 spaces during either action in allied territory or 2 through enemy territory. Starting a turn in enemy territory caps movement at 2, though if a spy moves into enemy territory as their last space, they can still move 3. During the Expand action, Spies may choose to forego movement and instead undertake one of several missions. Passive effect Spies have full vision of any region they are in, except for enemy Spies. Spy Missions These occur during the Expand action if you so choose. Each spy can be given a different mission. Siphon Funds Immediately steal half of the Region’s sovereign worth and add it to your coffers. This money is taken directly from the enemies coffers (they will see they are losing money but will not know from where). If you have two spies steal from the same region, take all the sovereigns that region is worth. Three or more spies stealing from the same region provides no additional benefits. Assassinate If any enemy spies are in the region, kill them. There is no limit to the number of spies; they all die. If both teams have spies assassinate at the same time, all spies in that region die. If there is no spy in the region to assassinate, nothing happens. Reveal The spy chooses two regions. The first region must be adjacent to the region they are in, the second region must be connected to the first (i.e. up to two spaces away). These spaces become visible to the Field General until the next action phase. They retain Fog of War vision over that territory until it is revealed again. Castle – 5,000 Castles are massive defensive bonuses and provide a major obstacle for enemy troops. Unlike Trenches, Castles do not need to be placed on a border; they defend from all invasions. Castles also can never be destroyed. If the enemy takes a region with a Castle in it, they now own that Castle. Castles take 2 weeks to construct. Castles do several things to alter a region. First, the region’s Field Battle becomes Castle Siege, regardless of what it was before. Secondly, the enemy can NOT attack a Castle space unless they have at least one Siege Weapon Battalion in the attacking army. New units purchased during the Spend Action can be immediately placed in a Castle, so long as it is not under attack. Castles also increase the revenue of the Region they are in by +300 sovereigns. Enemies attacking a Castle region suffer the Fortifications effect. The Fortifications effect is thus: On ally victory, suffer losses on a 5 or 6 instead of a 4, 5 or 6 On enemy victory, they suffer losses on a 3,4,5 or 6 instead of just a 4, 5 or 6 (see Battle Aftermath section for more info). This effect can stack with Trenches. If both Trenches and a Castle are in play: On ally victory, suffer losses on only a 6 On enemy victory, they suffer losses on a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 Field Combat Bonus: Castles convert the region from its previous Field Battle type to Castle Siege. Allies start inside the Castle and must defend. Any Siege Weapons are converted into Turrets; they stay within the walls of the castle in designated areas and fire arrows, though they retain Black Damage Javelins. They still cannot melee with javelins. They cannot reach across the wall to retrieve javelins. Allied soldiers can give them javelins, but they must go inside the Castle first to do it. Turrets can only use Black Damage on enemies outside the castle, they cannot fire javelins inside, though they can still use arrows. Turrets are destroyed in the same fashion as Trebuchets. Soldiers playing turrets become regular soldiers when a turret is destroyed after they respawn. Soldiers can freely enter and exit turrets as they wish, though they must throw Javelins from within the turret space to receive black damage. Reinforce During this Action, Field Generals may move units freely through their Kingdom with some restrictions: 1. Units cannot move into territory not already owned by their faction. 2. Each Battalion costs 50 Sovereigns to move, Siege Battalions cost 100, Spies are free 3. No individual unit can move more than 2 regions at a time 4. Fleets move 1 space during the Reinforce action or the Expand action. Fleets cost 100 to move. Unloading and loading friendly units in your territory, however, counts as a turn-ending movement for any battalions as well as the Fleets carrying them during the Reinforce phase ONLY. This costs no money. Fleets cannot attack coastline during Reinforce actions. 5. Units (except spies) can only move 2 regions at a time If you do not have any Sovereigns, you cannot move any units other than Spies during this phase. You ARE allowed to reinforce contested regions. As an additional bonus, scouts are sent out to relay information on enemy territory during the Reinforce phase. All adjacent regions you do not possess to regions you do possess will be revealed. Structures and units are shown to you for that turn except for Spies. After, you will retain knowledge of what the space looked like when last you saw it, though if it changes, you will not know unless you take another Reinforce Action. Expand This Action moves any number of your units into regions you do not own, whether they be enemy regions or simply un-owned. 1. Units cannot move into territory you already own. These are marching orders. 2. Each Battalion or Mercenary Battalion costs 50 Sovereigns to move, Siege Battalions cost 100, Spies are free 3. No individual unit (except spies) can move more than 1 region at a time 4. Fleets cost 100 to move. If they are carrying any units inside, these cost no additional charge to move. Unloading units into in-owned territory is a turn-ending move. Fleets can NOT load units during the Expand action, only Reinforce. 5. No unit barring Spies can move beyond a contested point If you successfully take a new region, you immediately gain gold equal to DOUBLE that region's tax value (farmland would gain you 400, a city would gain you 1,000, etc.) Spies also carry out Missions during this phase. Combat When battalions enter a Region with an enemy faction, that Region becomes Contested. At the end of the Round, all Contested Regions enter Combat. Combat is resolved in real-time through Lancerus field battles. This is called Field Combat. Determining Team Size When determining the size of attackers, a 1 to 1 ratio of board units to actual fighters simply would not work. Instead, sides will be chosen thusly: If both sides have the same number of battalions plus or minus 1, teams will be even. If one side has +2 battalions, they get an extra fighter. If one side has +5 battalions, they get 2 extra fighters. If one side has +9 or more battalions, they get 3 extra fighters. Determining Game Mode Every Region of Lancerus will have a Game Mode tied to it. In this way, fighting to your strengths will see you prevail in certain Regions but struggle in others. Use Tactics or greater numbers to even the playing field. Sometimes Regions may change which Game Mode they have, whether it be from Castles or Secret Events. Combat Aftermath One team will emerge victorious on the field of battle. The losing team will lose Battalions equal to the number of Battalions on the winning team. (Gildor attacks Larkenvale in Miro. Gildor has 7 Battalions, Larkenvale has 4. During Field Combat, Gildor gets a +1 Fighter advantage. Gildor wins Field Combat. Because Gildor attacked with 7 Battalions, Larkenvale must lose 7. Since they only had 4, all of their soldiers die.) The winning team, however, always suffers some losses as well. After the winner is decided, the Loremasters roll dice to determine losses. For each enemy, a 1d6 is rolled. On a 4, 5 or 6, one victorious soldier dies. (Gildor attacked and won with 7 Battalions against Larkenvale’s 4. Although Larkenvale was wiped out, they may have taken some Gildorians with them. 4 dice are rolled, one per Larken Battalion, and the results are: 1,3,4,5. Since a 4 and a 5 were rolled, Gildor lost 2 Battalions in the fight.) Routing Often an enemy force will break and run if they are losing. This is called Routing. Routing occurs when a Region is assaulted and the attackers win, but do not have enough soldiers to kill all defenders. (Larkenvale attacks Valrose. Larkenvale has 6 Battalions, Gildor has 8. Larkenvale wins the battle. Since they only had 6 Battalions, however, only 6 Gildorian Battalions die, leaving 2 left. These 2 route, breaking away and running from battle. The region now belongs to Larkenvale. Half of the soldiers that fled return to the army in neighboring Regions. The other half flee forever, deserting the army.) Loremasters randomly determine where routed Battalions flee to. It must be a neighboring Region owned by that Faction. If there are no neighboring Regions, all soldiers desert the army. In this way, Routing can severely cripple a superior force. Hold the Line Routing only happens if the winning force is at least half the size of the losing force (e.g. a victorious force of 9 battalions would not route a force of 20). On the first round of combat, Larkenvale attacks the Gildorian region of Emberbell with 7 Battalions. Gildor defends with 17. Larkenvale wins the battle, though because of their numbers being less than half of the defenders, Gildor does not route. Larkenvale loses 2 battalions, Gildor loses 7. Gildor, despite heavy losses, retains control of the territory. The next round, Larkenvale attacks again with 5 battalions, Gildor defends with 10. Again, Larkenvale wins. Gildor loses 5 Battalions, the rest route. Larkenvale now takes the region. Alliance Levels Gildor and Larkenvale each have allied themselves with another human nation: Oden and Arn, respectively. Field Generals must tend to these alliances, lest foreign support falter as the war continues. Support is separated into levels. At the beginning of the war, each faction had a support level of 2. The Field General must decide how to approach foreign affairs, as their actions may see this number climb or fall. The levels are thus: 0 - Enemies, will attack should you enter this faction's territory and may attack your bordering regions 1 - Neutral, will not attack your regions but will prohibit movement through faction territory 2 - Cordial, will allow movement through faction territory and vice-versa, share vision 3 - Friendly, will supply you with Battalions on a semi-regular basis 4 - High Alliance, provide more Battalions as well as the occasional Fleet or Siege Battalion, gain access to this faction's Unique City Bonuses 5 - Formal Defensive Pact, gain complete control of your allied faction's military 1 Neutral is considered the resting position. The higher your support level climbs, the harder it will be to maintain it at that level. Secret Events Over the course of the War, Secret Events may happen. These will be announced by the Loremasters when the secret criteria are met. Secret Events may change a region through flooding, cripple a stretch of regions with disease, see an orc uprising, start the defection of a high-ranking officer and his troops, or all other manner of changes. There is no way to know what these are or when they will happen; it is up to the Field General to stay determined, even in the face of the unpredictable! Special Region Bonus Some spaces on the map provide unique bonuses to their owner. These are passive bonuses that never change, barring the possibility of Secret Events. Aedon Hold Dailar Mettle: Defenders cannot route from this territory Arkrest Harbor Cranes: Fleets built here cost -250 Sovereigns Autumn City Fire Ships: cannot be attacked from the sea Dol-Baror Dwarven Riches: Worth 800 Sovereigns per tax, does not start with a Castle Halia Mortes Superior Defenses: Requires 3 Siege Battalions to attack Kon Owner has vision of any Fleets in the southern stretch of the rivers north of the Ember Sea as well as the Sea itself. Leva Adium The Whitefang: Gildorian defenders are allowed one player to take the role of Darshia. Darshia has stoneskin 1, wields a Red with min to mid length, is immune to arrows and deals poison damage. Darshia has 4 lives; upon respawning the 4th time, the person is a regular soldier. If Gildor loses their capital, they retain the Darshia bonus when attacking it. Darshia can stack with the Champion Tactic, though it must be a separate fighter. Lindala The Silver Hall: Worth 2,000 Sovereigns per tax, starts with a Castle Opal Shore Sea Dogs: Fleets constructed here take an extra 1 week to build but come with 2 free Battalions each Toblin Tavern Whispers: Upon capturing Toblin, acquire a free Spy unit. If this Spy dies, it can be bought again and placed in Toblin for 2,000 Sovereigns End of the War The war is over when one of 2 conditions are met: 1. Gildor or Larkenvale loses their capital and fail to recover it during the next combat phase 2. Season Closer arrives, signaling the arrival of winter and the end of combat Beyond this point, it is unknown what will happen. Fight for your country, fight for gold, fight for glory, and may the Seven guide us all.